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Michelle Wie cools off by turning up the (oven) heat

Michelle Wie was baking hot after incurring a two-stroke penalty Sunday in the final round of the Kia Classic at La Costa Resort and Spa, so she went home and baked.

She also made a dress. Baking and sewing, she said, are things she does when she is upset.

“I made some really nice brownies, so after finishing those, I was very happy,” Wie said Tuesday when she met with reporters after a practice round for this week's Kraft Nabisco Championship at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. “I made brownies, I made oatmeal raisin cookies, and I made myself a nice dress. It was a very productive morning.”

Presumably more productive than when she pleaded her case with rules officials after she grounded her club in a hazard on the 11th hole at La Costa.

Wie, who dropped from second to sixth after the penalty, told officials that she thought she might lose her balance and fall into the water. In such a case, the two-stroke penalty would have been waived, but officials didn’t buy her story.

"It happens," she said. "It was very unfortunate, but I’m just looking forward to this week.”

It isn't the first time Wie has had a run-in with the rules. In 2005, she was disqualified from her professional debut after taking an illegal drop. In the '06 British Open, she took a two-stroke penalty for grounding her club in the bunker. In 2008, she was disqualified from the State Farm Classic for failing to sign her scorecard.

After the British Open incident, she was asked if she’d brush up on the rules of golf and famously replied, “Well, it’s not actually great reading material.”

On Tuesday, she said she had tried to learn from each infraction.

“You just learn,” she said. “It’s hard to know all of [the rules], but, you know, you learn from your mistakes. I feel like everyone makes mistakes. It’s something you never want to do, but it happens. ... That’s what happened and hopefully from now on it won’t happen.”

Much of Wie’s unfamiliarity with the rules can be traced to her background. She started playing professional events when she was 13 and has made her mistakes and taken penalties on a public stage. Most players make similar mistakes in junior golf.

Brittany Lincicome, the defending champion this week, said the hazard rule that Wie violated last week is one of the most well known in golf.

Lincicome, acknowledged that the rules are confusing, and when in doubt, she always calls for a ruling. Wie did not call for a ruling Sunday and instead was informed by officials about the penalty.

"There are still so many rules that I get stumped with all the time, and I’m calling in rules officials where I’ve never dealt with a situation before," she said. "I always take the extra time to call the rules official over and be sure to get it right."

-- Peter Yoon

Photo: Michelle Wie watches a shot during the pro-am for the Kraft Nabisco Championship on Wednesday. Credit: David Cannon / Getty Images.